Get Your Biggest Buck Ever by Scouting While Hunting Public Land

You can find big bucks — and future hunting spots for early and late season trips — by scouting astutely while hunting. Photo courtesy of Mark Tuttle.

By Daniel E. Schmidt

A buck my brother shot years ago provides a good example of how scouting while you’re hunting can pay huge dividends during the same season. We had long hunted a vast, nondescript chunk of public ground. The deer population was, and still is, very low, and the habitat was terrible, to say the least. As a result, we were constantly looking for new spots within our area. One fall, during the early archery season, I spent the better part of a day speed-scouting a hardwood ridge that tapered off into a river-bottom swamp. The area looked good on paper – the topographical map indicated several natural funnels and pinch points that would certainly dictate deer movement.

The morning after walking the area, I packed in a portable ladder stand and erected it within 100 yards of two major trail crossings. I sat for several hours and watched as deer after deer worked their way up the river bottom and cruised a side hill on the hardwood ridge. I also noted how three different bucks skirted the trails. Instead of following the runways, they used faint parallel trails that wound through a small but dense spruce patch. I knew the spruce corridor would be a great spot for the gun season, but I also knew (from surveying the area with my binoculars while hunting) that tree stand hunting wouldn’t be an option. After hunting the area several more times that week, I concluded the spruce grove was definitely a “morning spot.”

When gun season arrived, I told my brother he should hunt the spot because he hadn’t shot a buck in a few years and that it would make me happiest if he got the first chance. Armed with nothing more than his rifle and a 5-gallon bucket, he worked his way into the spruce thicket before first light and set up in a small clearing. To his surprise but certainly not mine, a dandy 8-pointer appeared shortly after daybreak. He killed it cleanly with a 40-yard shot. That area received very little hunting pressure, and I honestly believe that buck had never encountered a hunter in that grove before. We could have probably pinpointed that spot by spending many hours dissecting the area during post-season scouting trips. However, we wouldn’t have known how deer used the grove had I not bowhunted the area and observed firsthand exactly when and where deer appeared.

We are all so busy these days that the scout-while-hunting method is really the only tactic we use to find new spots and learn more about other mostly unfamiliar properties. I use the tactic a lot while turkey hunting public land in spring. I’m surprised at how much I can learn about a local deer herd during just one day of chasing gobblers. Best of all, I don’t have to worry if I spook deer, because deer season is, after all, usually five months away.

When using this approach, it’s wise to maintain a detailed hunting journal. Draw crude maps, and note all the obvious things like trails, rubs and scrapes. Also note the less-subtle signs, such as converging terrain features, inside corners, stream crossings, etc. The more detail you record, the better prepared you’ll be when trying to match wits with wary whitetails.